Garment supporter link



Patented Aug. 18, 1936 UNITED'SITATES PATENT OFFICE Joseph Leonard; Allentown, Pa.,' 'assignor to Charis Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 7, 1935,.TSerialNo. 43,835

3 Claims. (01. 241-12) This invention relates to linksfor usein 10011- necting tape -like members of fabric and the like, and is particularly adapted for use in supporting straps for garments. 1.

5 The invention has been developed in connection with shoulder straps for foundation garments for women and such shoulder straps will be employed for convenience in the-description of the invention; but with the understanding thattheinvention is not limited thereto, as will be apparent from the'following description. It is advantageous to have the attachment-portion of shoulder straps (and other "supporting straps) for garments separate from'theisupport- 5 ing piece or strip and to fasten the attachment means to the supporting strip by. means of a link, particularly where adjustment-in the lengthlnof the shoulder strap is desired. Such .aalink ordinarily comprises two traction ,barsfastened to.- gether at their ends, withthe supportingstrip of the shoulder strap passing'aroundthe upper ,of the two traction bars :and fastened onto itself thereabove by means of an adjusting buckle, and the supporting means passingqaround thelower of the two traction bars and'fastened onto itself therebeneath. Experience has =demo'nstrated that with such a construction of linkthesupport- .ing strip of the shoulder strap iscrumpledand displaced sidewisegin one direction along .its trac- 30 tion bar and-theattachmentportion is crumpled and displaced'in the opposite direction. on its traction bar. This has been found to bevvery objectionable in appearance, both of. the shoulder strap itself and of any tight fitting garmentwhich 35 goes over it, in comfort, and inshortening the life of the fabric of the shoulderstrap and its attachment means. 1 1

One object of the invention is a link which will prevent sidewise displacement of the supporting 40 strip of the shoulder strap, and of the attachment means, within the link itself.

The foregoing difliculties, with .the ordinary link have been recognized in the practicalart of garment supporting straps and a number of attempts 45 have been made to prevent the sidewisadisplacement just referred to. These attempts have been generally characterized eitherby the provision of teeth formed along the-edges of'the traction bar and/or at the corners or ends thereofwhich 50 penetrate into the fabric of the strap and/or its attachment means; or by an enlargement of the slot at each end thereof between the two traction bars, in the expectation thatv the edges of the said 7 fabric will be drawn into the enlarged portions 55 of the slot and by the forward deformation of lips of the traction bars;

the-central part of, the fabric between its edges will thus prevent sidewise displacement.

. One objection to the teeth is that they tend to and in'many cases eventually do pierce the fabric ofthe supporting strip and its attachment means, 5' weakenit, and as a result shorten its period.- of wear. Furthermore, the teeth are, quite likely to catch in the fabric of other garments and to scratch or pierce the skin of the wearer or those handling the straps. The practical difficulty with 10 the mere enlargement of the slot between the traction bars at its ends is that it is inefiicient, particularly when the tension on the supporting strap is not excessive and is slightly to one side orthe other. In such case, the sidewise displacement sought to be obviated still occurs. Another object of the invention is in preventing sidewise displacement to do so without piercingthe fabric of either the shoulder strap or'its attachment means.

.Further objects of the invention will appear as the specification proceeds.

"In the accompanying drawing forming a part of It-his application, which it should be understood .isimerely illustrative and is not intended to be a limitation on the invention,- J

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoulder strap with its attachment means at one end fastened thereto by means of a link constructed in accordance with my invention; v Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the link itself; and Figr'3'is an enlargement ofthe' link and of its cooperating loops of material the latter being broken away. 1 .In'illustrating the invention the attachment means generally referred to in Patent No. 1,672,- 069 are illustrated, but this it will be understood is for convenience of illustration and not limitative, for the invention is independent of any particular type of attachment means. 40

- The link 5 is made with traction bars 6, ,6" fastened together'at. their ends with connecting pieces I (conveniently integral therewith) so as -to form between the inside lips of .the traction formed a tapered locking tooth l6 which extends inwardly in respect 'to the slotwith gradually diminishing cross section" approximately to a line connecting the lateral extremities l I of the inner The apertures 9 thus form individual pockets which lie two above and two below the longitudinal axial line of the slot 7 and which are partially closed by the lateral exmtremities II of the inner lips of the traction,

bars and the. inner extremities of the locking Certain parts ofithe' link just described are preferably to be proportioned to cooperate with the dimensions and formation of the shoulder strapja s will. later be seen.

The supporting strip l5 of the shoulder strap,

7 which is conveniently provided with a bucklelfi in usual form for adjusting the length of the strap, passes freely around the. upper traction .bar6 of the loop and has'its end fastened to the Attachment means of similar character are pro:

' construed as broadly as permissible in view of the 3b vided for at theiother endof the shoulder strap. These comprise-the eye l9 and the tab 20, but instead of thestrip I8 to which the eye is attached being formed with aloop above, it extends on both sides of the supporting strip and is firmly stitched thereto as at 2|. a

All of the fabric parts heretofore mentioned are preferablymade with selvage edges, this term V of elastic material either to comprise the entire supporting strip itself or a part thereof; As here .being used in its broad sense to. indicate a. construction whereby the edges are prevented from ravelling. Furtherm'oreit is convenient to'provide'. for elasticity in the shoulder strap by the use illustrated, the major portion of the supporting strip which passes through the length adjusting buckle l6 andthe loop 5 is of inelasticrnaterial and an elastic strip is'interposed between the Preferably the sl'otBinthe link is quite narrow so that when there is no tension on the shoulder strap there is frictional contact in the slot between the supporting strip. of the shoulder strap loop and the, strip of the attachment means loop. The slot is preferably of such a length in respect'to the width of the two loops that the selvage edges of the fabric of the loops lie wholly in the pockets 9, with the: fabric slightly slot and the pockets.

compressed within the combined length of the 7 Furthermore, the locking teeth I0 thus extend 'inwardlybetween the selvage edges of the two loops :and the conformation and proportion should preferably be such that the distancebethe selvage edges.

The inner ends of the locking teeth thus cooperate with. the adjacent ends of the inner lips of the traction bars to form restrictedopenings into the slot fromthe pockets whereby the selvage is gripped and tends to remain inthe pockets. The tapered formation of the locking teeth forces {the selvage backward in the line. of tension from At the bottom of:

prevented.

the lips of the slot, irrespective of the tension on the two strips. This cooperatesfwith the re-' stricted openings of the pockets in maintaining the strips in proper position inthe loop, particularly when the tension on the strips is slight or absent altogether.

Where these dimensions and proportions are followed, it will be found that the selvage onboth sides of the two loops of fabric is constantly maintained within the pockets 9 regardless of the amount of tension on the shoulder strap. At the same time the supporting strip of the shoulder strap may be drawn through the link as desired in changing its'length by means of the buckle l6. 1

when the link constructed as above described,:it will be apparent not only that sidewise slippage of both the supporting strip of the shoulder strap and the strip of its'attachment' means is prevented, but that this is'done without excessive wear on the fabric of either of the two parts and that all crumpling of the fabric is pre- .vented and the attractive appearance of the' and no undue limitations should be deduced therefrom, but the appended claims should be prior art. Having thus described my invention, what "I claim is:

. 1. A link for connecting tw'o strips of material, said link comprising 'twotraction bars, each bar adapted to have looped around it one of the said strips of material, connecting pieces for joining the traction bars together at their ends, the traction bars and connecting pieces being so constructed and arranged as to provide a narrow longitudinal slot between'the traction bars, each connectingpiece being provided withtwo aper tures at its respective end of the slot, the said apertures being positionedone on each side of the longitudinal axial line of the slot and being separated by a locking tooth which extends inwardly in respect to the slot from the connecting piece and forms with the adjacent ends of the inner lips of the traction bars restricted openings into the slot from the said apertures;

2. A link for connecting two strips of material having selvage edges, said linkcomprising 'tw'o traction bars, each bar adapted to have looped 'around it one of the said strips of material, connecting pieces for joining the traction bars together at their ends, the traction bars and con:

. necting pieces being so constructed and arranged as to provide a narrow longitudinal slot'between the traction bars, each connectingpiece being provided with two apertures at its respective end 'of the slot, the said apertures'being positioned one on each side of the longitudinal axial line of' the slot and constituting retracted selvage separated by a tapered locking tooth which extends inwardly in respect to the slot with gradually diminishing cross section from thej connecting piece and forms with the'adjacentends I of the inner lips of the traction. bars restricted openingsinto the slot from the said .apertur'es whereby the selvage is gripped and tends to re-" 7 main in its selvage pockets, to the end that side- 3. A shoulder strap for foundation garments comprising a supporting strip having selvage edges, attachment means at each end thereof for fastening the shoulder strap to the foundation garment, one of said attachment means being connected with the supporting strip by means of a link comprising two traction bars, the said last named attachment means embodying a fabric loop having selvage edges which surrounds one of said bars and the supporting strip embodying a loop which surrounds the other of said traction bars, one end of said last identified loop terminating in a bucklefor adjusting the length of the shoulder strap, the said two traction bars of the link being joined at their ends by connecting pieces in such manner as to provide a narrow longitudinal slot between the traction bars of such width that in the absence of tension on the shoulder strap the said attachment loop and supporting strip loop have frictional contact, each connecting piece of the loop being provided with two apertures at its respective end of the slot, the

said apertures being positioned one on each side of the longitudinal axial line of the slot and constituting retracted selvage pockets for the selvage edges of the fabric of the two said loops, the said apertures at each end of the slot being separated by a tapered locking tooth which extends inwardly in respect to the slot with gradually diminishing cross section from the connecting pieces and forms with the adjacent ends of the inner lips of the traction bars restricted openings into the slot from the said apertures whereby the selvage is gripped and tends to remain in the selvage pockets, to the end that sidewise displacement of the two said loops is prevented.

JOSEPH LEONARD. 

